Beehive rentals to individuals for personal garden pollination and enjoyment

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Beehive rentals to individuals for personal garden pollination and enjoyment

Not sure if this is in the right forum but I'll post and see. Does anyone rent hives to individuals for personal garden pollination and enjoyment? If so, how have you advertised your service and has it been successful?

I mentioned that I was looking into keeping bees on another forum. Several of the people there I know locally and a few of them said they would like to have bees. I shared the link to this group with them and every one of them said. "Oh I don't have time for all of that right now" But they would still like to have bees. SInce I want more hives than I can keep on my property I have been thinking of asking them if I can place a hive on their property. I will pay for the hive maintain it etc. and they are welcome to any honey. I want the wax and bees. Basically the more hives I can put together the better my odds at being able to keep all the hives going. I can make my own nucs etc.

One problem I see right off the bat is that it maximizes the cost in every way for each hive. IN short I am not sure it would be worth the effort to travel to different locations just for one or two hives.

I keep bees for several clients who buy my whole crop at close to retail. They buy several hundred pounds bottled in the $7+ dollar a pound range, unlabeled. I pay all the hive costs but if more call, I am going to make them foot the bill for the new hives.

I tried to "rent" out garden hives to people in town in Oklahoma City. It lasted one season....and never again going to do it. First....the homeowner never was around for me to get to the backyards to do any maintenance on the hive....and then they had a dog outside that wouldn't let me in the yard...(and they didn't have a dog when I placed the hive). Then the homeowners wanted to know how much Sevin dust they can use on their flowers to kill off the insects that were eating them up...and that was a battle. Then the kids "accidently" knocked over the garden hive (I used NUCs) with a basketball, while playing in the backyard...and that was the mess from H#**. After that....I gave back 1/2 of the money and said the bees had to go home to my house. And by the time you figure in the gas, labor, and only working a single hive...it wasn't cost effective for me. That is my rant....and sticking to it.

I have been wondering the same thing about having people sponsor hives. It appears that some beekeepers do this, but not sure it is worth the effort. Has anyone been happy with their arrangement of sponsored hives?

See post #3. It has been working well for me, but with very wealthy clients, probably over 10K sales doing that this year. I had two sites with poor production and of course on those it did not pay. On the sites with good crops I am earning similar hourly wages as I charge in my landscape business, and the honey is pre-sold at almost retail. So far the clients have bought the whole crop, several hundred pounds, but I wonder how many years they will continue to do so. It would not pay as well if I properly figured in my hive costs, which I for the most part have already paid for over the last 40 years. If you built new hives and bought the bees there would be a few years just to re-coup those costs.

i rent to a golf course and charge them $45 a hive a month minimum 2 hives year round, they get 90% of honey in bulk, i have another client who pays $25 and they get 50% of honey, if they want it bottled thats a separate bill. one thing you should make clear is that you want full access at least 5 days a week, i also let them know that quantity depends on mother nature, other factors are gas and in my case flying golf balls, you must have strong replacements if one of them go south, i could probably get more but the other advantages are swarms from other hives, boost in honey sales, iv gotten free equipment, and getting your name out there.

A couple of years ago I posted an ad on the billboard of a local grocery store. I stated simply that I was looking for anyone that would be willing to let place up to 5 beehives on their property. After receiving 6 responses in the first week I talked to all the property owners and told them that I simply needed the extra space since I had too many hives on my own property at that time. Five of the six were willing to let me place hives on their property simply because they thought that it would help the bee population in their area and they were concerned with all of the news they were hearing about the troubles that bees were having.

I chose three of the locations after I looked at the area where they said I could place the hives. All of the locations are between three and five miles from my house and are therefor quick and easy to get to. All have produced extra honey that I wouldn't otherwise have gotten. With the number of hives at each location I can quickly see when one or more of the hives are having problems and need to be boosted by transferring frames from the stronger hives. I also have the extra hives to make nucs or splits from in the spring.

Over the years I've had one owner ask me a couple of times for honey, but never more than a quart at a time.

In my opinion, I think its a great arrangement for all involved, particularly me.

You have had some good advice so far. I have done what you are asking about. But, I found it to be more trouble than it is really worth. You end up with a few hives here and a few there. It makes inspections and care of the hives agrivating. You have to plan ahead try to antiipate everything you might need. If you can find a few places close to your house it maybe worth it. I met some nice people doing this and now have more out yards than I need. So I have gained some from doing it.

One other side thing I learned from doing this was is I now have a better idea of the honey flow in my area. Each area has a little different flow.

Hello, we have four acres in the Avra Valley Marana AZ and would like to rent FREE, a part of our land to a Beekeeper to place their hives.
We have planted over fifty trees in the area as well as many flowering plants.
If you are interested please contact us here or email at lesfoster44@gmail.com

Originally Posted by carbide

A couple of years ago I posted an ad on the billboard of a local grocery store. I stated simply that I was looking for anyone that would be willing to let place up to 5 beehives on their property. After receiving 6 responses in the first week I talked to all the property owners and told them that I simply needed the extra space since I had too many hives on my own property at that time. Five of the six were willing to let me place hives on their property simply because they thought that it would help the bee population in their area and they were concerned with all of the news they were hearing about the troubles that bees were having.

I chose three of the locations after I looked at the area where they said I could place the hives. All of the locations are between three and five miles from my house and are therefor quick and easy to get to. All have produced extra honey that I wouldn't otherwise have gotten. With the number of hives at each location I can quickly see when one or more of the hives are having problems and need to be boosted by transferring frames from the stronger hives. I also have the extra hives to make nucs or splits from in the spring.

Over the years I've had one owner ask me a couple of times for honey, but never more than a quart at a time.

In my opinion, I think its a great arrangement for all involved, particularly me.